Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 3, 1994 TAG: 9403030060
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed William Gould, a Stanford University law professor, as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday after months of delay caused by conservatives who said he was biased toward labor unions.
Immediately after the Gould roll call, other nominees to the NLRB were approved by voice vote to round out the board, which has been unable to function for lack of members.
Joining Gould on the board will be Philadelphia labor lawyer Margaret Browning, a Democrat, and Washington D.C. management attorney Charles Cohen, a Republican. Fred Feinstein, counsel to the House Education and Labor labor-management subcommittee, will be general counsel. - Associated Press
Apple to offer Mac for preschoolers
Starting next month, Apple Computer Inc. will offer a Macintosh configured for the preschool set.
The package consists of a Macintosh LC 575, a CD-ROM drive and a variety of preloaded software that helps preschoolers learn the basic concepts of language, math, music and art. Apple hopes to sell the system, called Early Childhood Connections, to licensed preschools for $2,099.
- Knight-Ridder/Tribune
Honeywell guilty of gender bias
WASHINGTON - Labor Secretary Robert Reich ruled Wednesday that Honeywell Inc. discriminated against women, deciding in a 17-year-old case that the corporate giant separated job classes by gender.
Reich, whose position made him a judge in the case, said that from 1972 until 1977 Honeywell assigned women at its Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., plants to jobs already occupied by large numbers of females and gave them fewer opportunities for advancement than newly hired men.
The case had languished in the Labor Department since 1977. It was filed when Jimmy Carter was president. Reich is the seventh secretary of labor since the claim was made.
Minneapolis-based Honeywell is a multinational corporation that makes thermostats; building entry-control systems; and guidance and control systems for aircraft, missiles and other weapons systems. In 1993, the company had $5.96 billion in sales and earned $322 million.
The company stopped maintaining more than 200 "man only" job categories in 1969, Reich said, but its memo allowing women to bid on those positions said that "as a practical matter" the jobs could not be performed by most women.
- Associated Press
Philip Morris offers day off for lobbying
RICHMOND - Philip Morris USA will shut two cigarette plants next Wednesday so thousands of its employees can go to Washington to protest a proposed tax increase on cigarettes.
The company said about 7,000 of its 9,000 Richmond employees will join an estimated 6,000 other tobacco-industry workers in a march on Congress and the White House.
Philip Morris will halt production for the day at its manufacturing center in south Richmond, which makes more than 500 million cigarettes a day, and at its smaller Stockton Street plant. Employees will receive a full day's pay for their lobbying efforts. - Associated Press
CD maker Nimbus to go public
Nimbus U.S.A. Inc., a Ruckersville-based compact-disc maker, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a plan to go public, selling 3 million common shares for $13 to $15 each through Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp.; Merrill Lynch & Co.; and Salomon Brothers Inc.
The company was organized in 1992 by DLJ Merchant Banking Inc., which plans to sell an additional 2 million common shares in the offering, which is expected to net $38.5 million. The company plans to use $19 million to buy CD manufacturing plants in Scandinavia and England. - Staff report
Index finds Virginia poised for growth
RICHMOND - The state's economy improved in December and several indicators suggest Virginia is poised for more growth this year, Crestar Bank said.
The bank said its Coincident Index, which measures business activity, posted its largest gain since January 1993. The index rose nearly 1 percent in December after an upwardly revised 0.1 percent increase in November.
Growth was widespread in eight of the nine components. Initial unemployment claims, newspaper advertising lineage and auto registrations were up and initial unemployment claims were down. - Associated Press
by CNB